1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to checking e-mail information during computing system booting.
2. Related Art
A basic input/output system (“BIOS”) is a program, usually stored in an erasable programmable read only memory (“EPROM”) in the hardware of a computer system, that carries out a sequence of operations (referred to herein as “booting”) for starting up the computer system when the system is switched on. BIOS is an integral part of a personal computing system and typically comes installed on the system. In contrast, an operating system (“OS”) is typically either preinstalled by the manufacturer or vendor, or installed by a user. Booting, which is under control of the BIOS, includes determining a configuration for the computer system, verifying some of the hardware, and loading at least an OS loader, if not the whole OS itself, into the computing system's random access memory (“RAM”) from a storage device, such as a hard disk.
The BIOS frees up the OS and its applications from having to understand exact details such as hardware addresses about attached input/output devices. When device details change, only the BIOS program needs to be changed. Sometimes this change can be made during system setup. In any case, neither the OS nor applications used need to be changed if BIOS keeps track of changes in attached device details. The BIOS may also manage initial data flow between the computing system's OS and certain attached devices such as a hard disk, video adapter, keyboard, mouse, and printer. In many systems, once the OS loader is loaded it takes over and controls loading of the OS.
A computer system is ready to perform useful tasks only after these basic activities of booting and loading the OS have been completed. Exchanging e-mail over a network is one such useful task that is extremely popular for computing systems.
Ethernet is a widely installed local area network (“LAN”) technology and is specified by the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (“IEEE”) 802.3 standard. In general, 802.3 specifies the physical media and the working characteristics of Ethernet. The original Ethernet supports a data rate of 10 megabits per second (“Mbps”) and specifies numerous possible physical media. An Ethernet LAN typically uses coaxial cable or special grades of twisted pair wires. Ethernet is also used in wireless LANs. The most commonly installed Ethernet systems are called 10BASE-T and provide transmission speeds up to 10 Mbps. Devices are connected to the cable and compete for access using a Carrier Sense Multiple Access with Collision Detection (“CSMA/CD”) protocol. Fast Ethernet or 100BASE-T provides transmission speeds up to 100 megabits per second and is typically used for LAN backbone systems, supporting workstations with 10BASE-T cards. Gigabit Ethernet provides an even higher level of backbone support at 1000 megabits per second (1 gigabit or 1 billion bits per second). 10-Gigabit Ethernet provides up to 10 billion bits per second.
Personal computing systems and workstations on a LAN typically contain a network interface card (“NIC”), also referred to herein as a network adapter, specifically designed for the LAN transmission technology, such as Ethernet or Token Ring. An NIC may provide a dedicated, full-time connection to a network. A wireless LAN is one in which a mobile user can connect to the LAN via a radio frequency signal. A standard, IEEE 802.11, specifies technologies for wireless LANs.
The Transmission Control Protocol/Internet Protocol (“TCP/IP”) standard, also specified by IEEE 802.3, is commonly used for communication on such a network. TCP/IP is a basic communication language or protocol of the Internet. It can also be used as a communications protocol in a private network (either an intranet or an extranet). When set up with direct access to the Internet, a computing system is provided with a copy of the TCP/IP program. TCP/IP is a two-layer program. The higher layer, Transmission Control Protocol, manages the assembling of a message or file into smaller packets that are transmitted over the Internet and received by a TCP layer that reassembles the packets into the original message. The lower layer, Internet Protocol, handles the address part of each packet so that it gets to the right destination. Each gateway computing system on the network checks this address to see where to forward the message. Even though some packets from the same message are routed differently than others, they'll be reassembled at the destination.
TCP/IP uses the client/server model of communication in which a computing system user (a client) requests and is provided a service (such as sending a Web page) by another computing system (a server) in the network. TCP/IP communication is primarily point-to-point, meaning each communication is from one point (or host computing system) in the network to another point or host computing system. TCP/IP and the higher-level applications that use it are collectively said to be “stateless” because each client request is considered a new request unrelated to any previous one (unlike ordinary phone conversations that require a dedicated connection for the call duration). Being stateless frees network paths so that everyone can use them continuously. (Note that the TCP layer itself is not stateless as far as any one message is concerned. Its connection remains in place until all packets in a message have been received.)
Higher layer application protocols use TCP/IP to get to the Internet. These include the World Wide Web's Hypertext Transfer Protocol (“HTTP”), the File Transfer Protocol (“FTP”), Telnet which lets a user logon to remote computing systems, and the Simple Mail Transfer Protocol (“SMTP”). These and other protocols are often packaged together with TCP/IP as a “suite.” Personal computing system users with an analog phone modem connection to the Internet usually get to the Internet through the Serial Line Internet Protocol (“SLIP”) or the Point-to-Point Protocol (“PPP”). These protocols encapsulate the IP packets so that they can be sent over the dial-up phone connection to an access provider's modem. Other protocols related to TCP/IP include the User Datagram Protocol (“UDP”), which is used instead of TCP for special purposes. Other protocols are used by network host computing systems for exchanging router information. These include the Internet Control Message Protocol (“ICMP”), the Interior Gateway Protocol (“IGP”), the Exterior Gateway Protocol (“EGP”), and the Border Gateway Protocol (“BGP”).
An e-mail communication protocol is often included with the TCP/IP suite of protocols. One such e-mail protocol for sending e-mail is Simple Mail Transfer Protocol, and a popular protocol for receiving e-mail is POP3. Both Netscape and Microsoft include an e-mail utility with their Web browsers.
Conventionally, e-mail tasks are performed by an e-mail application program that starts up after booting of a computer system. For a user interested primarily in merely knowing a received e-mail count, a significant amount of time may be spent waiting for the system to boot and then load the e-mail application. Many users, especially those traveling frequently, need to keep in constant touch with their incoming mail. This requires frequent accessing of the e-mail application on the computing system. Since a computing system has to be booted, and since in a typical mode of operating an e-mail application has to be loaded to check e-mail each time the computing system is turned on, the waiting time to get e-mail information such as the e-mail count becomes significant, particularly with increased frequency of e-mail checking.